30th Street Station (Philadelphia)
Encyclopedia : 3 : 30 : 30T : 30th Street Station (Philadelphia)
| Philadelphia 30th Street Station | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address | 2955 Market Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-2989 | ||
| Amtrak routes | Acela Express - Cardinal - Carolinian - Crescent - Keystone Service - Metroliner - Palmetto - Pennsylvanian - Regional - Silver Meteor - Silver Star - Vermonter | ||
| Other service | SEPTA Regional Rail, Market-Frankford Line, Subway-Surface Lines, and bus routes, NJT Atlantic City Line | ||
| Amtrak code | PHL | ||
| Owned by | Amtrak | ||
30th Street Station is the main railroad station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the heart of Philadelphia's passenger rail network.
The Chicago-based architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White designed the structure, originally known as Pennsylvania Station-30th Street (as with other Pennsylvania Stations), which is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1934 by the former Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), which was headquartered in Philadelphia, to replace Broad Street Station when the latter became too small to handle Philadelphia's growing passenger-rail traffic. The PRR sought a location away from Center City Philadelphia, where Broad Street Station was located, which would allow room for a larger yard as well as multiple tracks and platforms. It found such a place on Market Street between 29th and 30th Streets, directly on the Schuylkill River, and built 30th Street Station there.
The building is presently owned by Amtrak and houses many Amtrak corporate offices (although Amtrak is officially headquarted in Washington, D.C.). The 562,000 ft² (52,000 m²) facility includes a cavernous main passenger concourse that contains a large Winged Victory statue erected in honor of Pennsylvania Railroad employees killed in World War II. Also found in the station are multiple shops, a McDonald's restaurant, a Dunkin Donuts, and a large food court. The station has appeared in popular culture and was prominently featured in the 1983 film Trading Places and the 1985 film Witness starring Harrison Ford.
Currently, trains from SEPTA, Amtrak, and New Jersey Transit (usually known as NJ Transit) serve this station. Amtrak intercity trains and NJ Transit's Atlantic City Line run through the station's lower level, while SEPTA Regional Rail lines serve the upper level. In addition, SEPTA's Market-Frankford Line (also known as the "Blue Line" or the "El") and all of SEPTA's Subway-Surface Lines (also collectively known as the "Green Line") stop at 30th and Market Streets, 1/2 block from the southwest entrance to 30th Street Station. There is a tunnel between the below-ground Market-Frankford El/subway-surface line station and 30th Street Station, but it has been closed off due to crime and vagrancy concerns. A number of the SEPTA system's bus lines also include stops at the station on their routes.
The station is one of the busiest passenger railroad facilities in the United States. In Federal Fiscal Year 2005, it had 3,742,630 Amtrak boardings plus alightings, making it the 2nd busiest Amtrak station in the U.S. It ranks just ahead of Washington Union Station and behind only New York Penn Station in Amtrak passenger volume [link]. The station also has extensive locally and regionally-generated passenger volume; it is one of SEPTA's 3 primary regional rail hubs and is located within walking distance of various attractions in West Philadelphia, most notably the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University in University City.
Many important highways and streets pass next to or near the station. Vehicles and taxicabs can easily access the station from various major routes, including Market Street (PA Route 3), Interstate 76 (more commonly known as the Schuylkill Expressway in the Philadelphia area), and Interstate 676 (more commonly known as the Vine Street Expressway in the city of Philadelphia).
Cira Centre, a 28-story glass-and-steel office tower opened in October 2005, is across Arch Street to the north and is connected by a skyway at the station's mezzanine level next to the upper level SEPTA Regional Rail platforms. The tower is owned by Philadelphia-based Brandywine Realty Trust, was designed by architect César Pelli, and sits on land leased from Amtrak. César Pelli is best-known for the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Because Amtrak's service to Newark Liberty International Airport is codeshared with Continental Airlines, the station has the IATA Airport Code of ZFV.
\"Ben Franklin Station\"
On December 25, 2005, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the Philadelphia based Pew Charitable Trust had asked Amtrak to change the name of 30th Street Station to Ben Franklin Station [link]. The change of the station name would coincide with the celebration of Ben Franklin's 300 birthday in January 2006. A subsequent report by the Inquirer on January 13, 2006 stated that Philadelphia Mayor John Street has thrown his support behind the name change; at the time of the initial report the mayor’s office stated that it was unaware of the request [link]. In the same report, though, fellow Philadelphia charity manager H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest stated that Pew had abandoned its plan for the name change, yet Pew and Amtrak (officially) stated that conversations were still underway. From the two reports by the Inquirer, reaction to the name change by Philadelphians has been mixed, with even former Philadelphia mayor and current Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell expressing a lukewarm reaction to the report. It had been estimated that to replace all the signage at the train station to reflect the new name would cost approximately $3 million. Though some Philadelphians supported the change, others preferred the straightforward geographic name of the station that was currently in use. Amtrak also raised concern about confusion between "Ben" station and its other three "Penn" stations.
On January 25, 2006, the Pew Charitable Trust announced that it was abandoning the campaign to have name of the station changed. Pew gave no reason for its change of stance. [link]
- redirect
See also
- Center City Commuter Connection
- Suburban Station
- Reading Terminal
- Amtrak
- Commuter rail in North America
- Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
- New Jersey Transit
External links
- [30th Street Station Homepage]
- [Graham, Anderson, Probst & White Homepage] - see "Historical Architectural Projects" pages
- [The Pennsylvania Pages]
- ["Ben Franklin Station"]
- [Aerial perspective photo link]
{| class="toccolours" border="1" cellpadding="4" style="margin: 0 auto; border-collapse: collapse; text-align: center;" |- style="background:#F0F0F0;" ! Next station ! colspan="3"|SEPTA lines ! Next station
|- |- style="background:#F0F0F0;" | | colspan="3" | NJ Transit lines |
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